


Platinum

by yeaka



Category: Star Trek, Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies), Star Trek: The Original Series
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, M/M, Vignette
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-01
Updated: 2020-06-01
Packaged: 2021-03-02 20:21:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 718
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24482716
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yeaka/pseuds/yeaka
Summary: Exploring expensive caves causes unwanted urges.
Relationships: James T. Kirk/Spock
Comments: 14
Kudos: 135





	Platinum

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I don’t own Star Trek or any of its contents, and I’m not making any money off this.

They turn the corner, and Jim’s flashlight cuts clean across the cavern in one broad swath of glowing yellow light, intensified by the reflection of millions of gold coins. The marks stamped into them are unfamiliar but undoubtedly meaningful—Spock’s already been granted permission to pocket one. He and the historical department will analyze it as soon as he beams back aboard, which will happen as soon as he’s seen every last nook and cranny of the underground Ceti Mrennenimus IV ruins. In the meantime, he savours his position in the landing party. Jim slowly wades forward through the sea of _treasure._

“Wow,” Jim breathes. Quiet though it is, it echoes faintly: this new room is _massive_ ; easily the largest yet, and every single corner is jammed full of the same golden piles and littered through with gemstones. The piles are mismatched and infinite, no two the same size or composition. In the distance, Spock can hear the footfalls and telltale clatters of the security detail, fanned out in other caverns, knee-deep in foreign riches. Jim takes another step, displacing a small hill of alien pearls.

Spock stays where he is, breathing hard, heart pounding at his side. This world is _cold_ , like too many worlds, but it’s not as _exotic_ as he would have expected—the looming columns and elaborately carved walls scream too much of _home_. The treasure itself is what most compounds that feeling. Most of the jewels are unlike anything he’s ever seen, and yet the overall vision of it strikes at an ancestral memory buried deep inside him. Worst of all is Jim’s handsome silhouette, standing in the middle of it, tall and beautiful, the greatest officer Spock’s ever served. 

A shudder runs through his body. The tricorder in his hands is whirring wildly, but he can’t bring himself to look down at the flashing numbers. Instead, Jim’s burned into his corneas. Voices whisper in his head of what he wants, what he _truly_ wants, where he should really be instead of out in the middle of nowhere with Starfleet—his parents warned him, he could never be properly complete when totally off-world...

Jim turns and looks at him, eyes alight with that feral mischief they get each time he discovers something _new_. Spock’s seen that look a thousand times.

Usually, he adores it. He’d never say it aloud, but he knows it. This time he shuts his eyes and runs through a simple meditation sequence in his mind. He can hear Jim coming back to him. 

A hand lands on his elbow, and he automatically recoils from that familiar warm touch. Jim doesn’t offer an apology. He should know by now that under normal circumstances, he’s perfectly allowed to touch his science officer, Vulcan etiquette be damned. 

Spock feels damned. He opens his eyes again, and the old instincts flare into painful, throbbing urges that _demand_ to be followed. He grits his teeth inside his closed mouth and tells himself this is ridiculous. His people are no longer _beasts_. They’ve evolved far beyond such illogical practices. There’s absolutely no sane reason to give in to the base hoarding instincts of their ancient draconic blood. 

“Should I send you back up to the ship?” Jim asks, not judgmental or piteous, merely understanding and diplomatic. “You’re my top scientist, but we have other qualified ones aboard that could beam down.”

Spock frowns deeper than Jim is. He hates to think he’s been so crudely obvious. He insists, “I am perfectly capable of completing this mission.”

A thin smile quirks at the corner of Jim’s lips. He softly assures Spock, “I know. But I also know what your people evolved from, and seeing all this treasure... this _hoard_... if it’s too tempting, I understand.”

“I am fine.”

What Spock doesn’t say is that the treasure isn’t tempting him. The coins were clearly valuable to the lost civilization of Ceti Mrennenimus IV, but they mean nothing to him. The jewels are intriguing but nothing he’d take beyond the science lab.

It’s seeing _Jim_ in someone else’s hoard that’s driving him mad.

But he’s had years of practice resisting the urge to claim the greatest treasure he’s ever known. He’ll make it a little longer. He nods on down the cave, and Jim nods back and goes.


End file.
